Paleontology

Paleontology

New View: Fossil offers novel look at an ancient bird

A newly described specimen of an ancient creature that most scientists consider the oldest known bird is posed in a way that provides new viewing angles for several body features.

Paleontology

Ancient Grazers: Find adds grass to dinosaur menu

Analyses of fossilized dinosaur feces in India reveal the remains of at least five types of grasses, a surprising finding that's the first evidence of grass-eating dinosaurs and an indication that grasses diversified much earlier than previously recognized.

Paleontology

Big bird terrorized South America

Researchers in Argentina have discovered fossils that may represent the heftiest flightless bird to ever have roamed the planet.

Paleontology

Tusk analyses suggest weaning took years

Changes in the proportions of various chemical isotopes deposited in mammoth tusks as they grew have enabled scientists to estimate how long it took juvenile mammoths to become fully weaned.

Paleontology

Mmmm, that’s crunchy

Isotopic analyses of the teeth of otters and mongooses from Africa have led one paleontologist to suggest that some of humanity's ancient kin shared those modern animals' preference for shelled prey such as freshwater crabs and snails.

Paleontology

Caribbean Extinctions: Climate change probably wasn’t the culprit

Remains of extinct sloths unearthed in Cuba and Haiti indicate that the creatures persisted in Caribbean enclaves until about 4,200 years ago, a finding that almost absolves climate change following the last ice age as a cause for the die-offs.

Paleontology

Some plesiosaurs went for clams

The fossils of plesiosaurs recently unearthed in Australia suggest that the long-necked, aquatic reptiles had a more varied diet than scientists had previously suspected.

Paleontology

Raptor Line: Fossil finds push back dinosaur ancestry

Fossils of a newly discovered raptor dinosaur species suggest that the reptile's lineage is older and more widespread than previously suspected.

Paleontology

DNA pegs Irish elk’s nearest relatives

Analyses of DNA of the Irish elk, which died out after the last ice age, may settle a long-running debate about the creature's place on the deer family tree.

Paleontology

Dinosaurs!

The Smithsonian Institution’s dinosaur Web site tells the story of the National Museum of Natural History’s collections, research, and staff. Visitors not only learn about the early history of these well-known dinosaur collections but also get a chance to participate in a virtual dinosaur discovery, click through an interactive “Tree of Life” highlighting milestones in […]

Paleontology

Just for Frills?

The more that paleontologists scrutinize some dinosaurs' plates, frills, and other anatomical oddities, the more they suspect that the rationale behind these features is simply the need to be recognizably different.

Paleontology

Young and Helpless: Fossils suggest that dinosaur parents cared

Skeletal remains found in the fossilized eggs of an early dinosaur hint that adults of the species may have cared for their hatchlings.